Trap for catching porpoises.



G. F. PIKE. TRAP PoR GATGHING PoRPoIsBs.

APPLIoATIoN FILED APB. 9, 190e. Bmmwxm nu. 1. 1910.

' Patllted 001;. 11, 1910.

@Manlio/o Cms Fig/f5.

THE NuRRls PETRs co.. wuHlNaroN, n. c.

CHARLES F. PIKE, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRAP FOR CATCI-IINGr PORPOISES.

sia/2,235.

Application filed April 9, 1908, Serial No. 426,049.

Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 11, 1910. Renewed March 1, 1910. Serial No. 546,740.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, CHARLES F. PIKE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trapsfor Catching Porpoises, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for catching fish and especially forcatching the por poise. In this art as heretofore developed means havebeen provided for this purpose which comprise in general termsobstructions, such as nets or seines, placed in the `path traveled bythe fish, and in the rear thereof receptacles with forward openingscoinciding with openings in the obstructions, whereby the fish uponencountering the obstruction will pass through the opening therein intothe receptacle in the rear thereof. The porpoise generally swim near thesurface of the water and while they will to some extent pass through theopeningV in the obstruct-ion placed in their path, they will be veryliable, when they meet an obstruction, to jump over it and thus be lostto the lisher.

The object of my invention is to provide means whereby the sh will becaught after jumping over the obstruction and thus avoid the loss ofsuch a large number as would occur in the use of the means now provided.

In other applications Serial Numbers 426,017 and 426,048 filed on thesame date as this, I have illustrated and described specificconstructions of means for carrying out the broad idea of providingtraps for catching the fish which may jump over an encounteredobstruction, but no means has been described or shown therein to preventthe fish jumping over the obstruction at points where there is no trapin the rear thereof, and inasmuch as the traps are only set at intervalsalong the obstruction, many of the fish jumping over the obstruction mayescape.

The special object of the present invention is to provide means forpreventing this loss of fish which may jump over the ordinarilyconstructed obstruction, between the traps, and with this object in viewthe invention consists of t-he improved construction, arrangement andcombination of parts hereinafter fully described and afterwardspecifically claimed.

In order that others skilled in this art may be enabled to construct anduse my invention I will now proceed to describe the same in connectionwith the accompanying drawings in which- Figure 1 is a plan view of atrap and obstruction of any ordinary construction, to which the presentinvention may be applied. F ig. 2 is a front elevation showing anembodiment of my invention. Fig. 3 is a section on the broken line 3 3.

Referring specifically to the drawing, 7 indicates the bottom of a bodyor stream of water in which my invention may be utilized. Anobstruction, in this instance shown as an ordinary seine is shown at 8supported by floats of any ordinary kind at the surface of the water,'asat 9 and held down by weights or sinkers 90. In the rear of theobstruction, that is to say on that side opposite to the one with whichthe porpoise would come into contact, is removably secured on the floatline 10, by hooks 11 or other suitable means, a receptacle, in thisinstance shown as a trap or net having a bottom 13 and sides 14, 14, butopen at the top, as at 15. Extending rearwardly from the open rear endof this trap 12, is a conically shaped tubular conduit, 16, supported byfloats 17 and connecting at its rear open end with a receptacle 18,shown in Fig. l as a pound net 18 secured to piles or poles 19 andextending from the bottom of the water to a sufficient height tocompensate for the rising and falling of the tide. In the forward end ofthe pound is a suitable opening in line with the rear open end of theconduit 16 and the trap and conduit, as well as the front of the pound,being flexible, the rise and fall of the obstruction 8, with the trapand conduit, will be compensated for without hindering the operation ofthe device. The porpoise, in swimming along, encounters the obstruction,in the form of the seine 8 and being unable to pass through it, jumpsover it and drops into the trap, and continuing on in the same generaldirection is guided through the conduit or connection 16 into the pound18 from which the contents may be removed in any suitable manner.

There may be as many traps set as desired or as permissible in anyparticular situation.

The construction thus far described forms no part of the presentinvention and may be modified in many ways.

to receive them.

In Figs. 2 and 3, I have shown o ne construction of the obstruction 8,which is embodied in my present invention in which I provide against thepossibility of the fish jumping over the obstruction at pointsbetweenthe traps, or where there are no traps In this construction 22represents guards of netting or other suitable material on double armedframes 23 adapted to straddle the obstruction 8 whereby the guards areheld in place and may be placed in position on the obstruction at anydesired point, removed therefrom, or adjust* ed thereon, as may bedesired. These guards, placed'wherever there are no nets, willeffectually prevent the escape of such fish as may approach theobstruction at points between the traps. I have shown these guards madeseparate from the obstruction, but they may be integral therewith, ifdesired, without departing from the spirit and scope ofmy invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new is:

l. A device of they character described comprising an obstruction whichextends comprising an obstruction in the path of travel of the fish,traps in the rear of the obstruction having open tops, to receive fishjumping over the obstruction, and guards on vthe obstruction above thewater between the traps t0 prevent the fish from jumping over theobstruction at any points other than in front of the traps,substantially as described.

3. A device of the character described comprising an obstruction in thepath of travel of the fish, traps in the rear of the obstruction havingopen tops, to receive fish jumping over the obstruction, and guards ofnetting comprisinea double armed frames adapted to be stradled on theobstruction above the water between the traps, to prevent the fish fromjumping over the obstruction at any points other than in front of thetraps, substantially as described.

4. A guard of the character described, comprising a rigid frameworkhaving its sides constructed in the form of inverted forks, andnetting stretched upon the frame, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

I CHARLES F. PIKE.

Witnesses:

JOHN DEVLIN, FRANK GRAY.

